Development cooperation projects - on the road towards social organisational capital : case study: Latvia

Abstract

DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION PROJECTS – ON THE ROAD TOWARDS SOCIAL ORGANISATIONAL CAPITAL CASE STUDY: LATVIA

Sintija Dutka Master’s Thesis Social and Public Policy / Master’s programme in Development and International Cooperation Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy University of Jyväskylä Instructor: Marja Järvelä English proof reader: Mark Dennis Time period: Autumn 2009 / Spring 2010 Pages: 97 pages + annex 4 pages

The purpose of the thesis is to examine ways in which implementation of a development cooperation project influences the capacity of project implementing organisations in Latvia. Furthermore, the study aims to discover whether social capital generated during the project cycle has an effect on projects’ effectiveness and ability to produce added value.

The empirical data is collected by interviewing employees of the four selected case studies, Latvian non-governmental organisations implementing development cooperation projects. The context of a new donor country building its capacity for development cooperation is described. The data consists of seven semi-structured open-ended interviews.

Characteristics of structural and cognitive social capital or common understanding of value systems shared among project partners have been identified. Social capital provides environment for people and organisations to succeed, increase effectiveness and focus on mutual characteristics of their coordinated actions. Implementation of development cooperation projects enhance (a) financial and human resource mobilisation and management capacities; (b) process management related capacities as strategic planning, coordination, and decision making, communication, problem identification and solving; (c) knowledge acquisition and generation within organisations. Thus a development cooperation project becomes a location for informal global education production.

Research phenomenon appears in the fact that the concept of social capital is applied to international networks. Furthermore, new concepts - ‘social organisational capital’ and ‘organisational social capacity’ have been proposed.